ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Blood mystery solved: Two new blood types identified
• Eating citrus fruit may lower women's stroke risk
• Neurotoxins in shark fins: A human health concern
• Heart attacks: Naked mole-rats bear lifesaving clues
• Girls' verbal skills make them better at arithmetic, study finds
• Impulsive kids play more video games, and kids who play more video games may become more impulsive
• Bisphenol A exposure linked to increased risk of future onset of heart disease
• How vitamin D inhibits inflammation
• Opinion: H5N1 flu is just as dangerous as feared, now requires action
• A unique on-off switch for hormone production
• Memo to pediatricians: Screen all kids for vitamin D deficiency, test those at high risk
• Newly approved drug for metastatic melanoma nearly doubles median survival
• Scientists discover likely new trigger for epidemic of metabolic syndrome
• Controlling protein function with nanotechnology

Blood mystery solved: Two new blood types identified Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:38 PM PST You probably know your blood type: A, B, AB or O. You may even know if you're Rhesus positive or negative. But how about the Langereis blood type? Or the Junior blood type? Positive or negative? Most people have never even heard of these. Yet this knowledge could be "a matter of life and death." While blood transfusion problems due to Langereis and Junior blood types are rare worldwide, several ethnic populations are at risk.

Eating citrus fruit may lower women's stroke risk Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:26 PM PST Eating higher amounts of a compound in citrus fruits, especially oranges and grapefruit, may lower ischemic stroke risk. Women who ate high amounts of the compound had a 19 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke than women who consumed the least amount.

Neurotoxins in shark fins: A human health concern Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:25 PM PST Sharks are among the most threatened of marine species worldwide due to unsustainable overfishing. They are primarily killed for their fins to fuel the growing demand for shark fin soup, which is an Asia delicacy. A new study has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig Disease (ALS). The study suggests that consumption of shark fin soup and cartilage pills may pose a significant health risk for degenerative brain diseases.

Heart attacks: Naked mole-rats bear lifesaving clues Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:25 PM PST A biologist thinks the subterranean lifestyle of the naked mole-rat may hold clues to keeping brain cells alive and functioning when oxygen is scarce, as during a heart attack. The key may lie in how brain cells regulate their intake of calcium, he says.

Girls' verbal skills make them better at arithmetic, study finds Posted: 23 Feb 2012 10:30 AM PST While boys generally do better than girls in science and math, some studies have found that girls do better in arithmetic. A new study finds that the advantage comes from girls' superior verbal skills.

Impulsive kids play more video games, and kids who play more video games may become more impulsive Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:41 AM PST Impulsive children with attention problems tend to play more video games, while kids in general who spend lots of time video gaming may also develop impulsiveness and attention difficulties, according to new research.

Bisphenol A exposure linked to increased risk of future onset of heart disease Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:40 AM PST Bisphenol A (BPA) is a controversial chemical widely used in the plastics industry. A new study followed people over a 10-year time period and shows that healthy people with higher urine concentrations of BPA were more likely to later develop heart disease.

How vitamin D inhibits inflammation Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:39 AM PST Researchers have discovered specific molecular and signaling events by which vitamin D inhibits inflammation. Low levels of vitamin D failed to inhibit the inflammatory cascade, while levels considered adequate did inhibit inflammatory signaling.

Opinion: H5N1 flu is just as dangerous as feared, now requires action Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:39 AM PST The debate about the potential severity of an outbreak of airborne H5N1 influenza in humans needs to move on from speculation and focus instead on how we can safely continue H5N1 research and share the results among researchers, according to experts.

A unique on-off switch for hormone production Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:39 AM PST Scientists have revealed a new kind of on-off switch in the brain for regulating the production of a main biochemical signal from the brain that stimulates cortisol release in the body.

Memo to pediatricians: Screen all kids for vitamin D deficiency, test those at high risk Posted: 22 Feb 2012 05:42 PM PST As study after study shows the fundamental role vitamin D plays in disease and health, vitamin D deficiency — which often develops insidiously in childhood — should be on every parent's and pediatrician's radar, say physicians.

Newly approved drug for metastatic melanoma nearly doubles median survival Posted: 22 Feb 2012 05:42 PM PST A newly approved drug for patients with metastatic melanoma nearly doubles median survival times, a finding that will change the way this deadly form of skin cancer is treated.

Scientists discover likely new trigger for epidemic of metabolic syndrome Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:46 PM PST Scientists have uncovered a key suspect in the destructive inflammation that underlies heart disease and diabetes.

Controlling protein function with nanotechnology Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:46 PM PST A new study is providing important details on how proteins in our bodies interact with nanomaterials. Researchers have developed a new tool to determine the orientation of proteins on different nanostructures. The discovery is a key step in the effort to control the orientation, structure, and function of proteins in the body using nanomaterials.

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